APS » PROLA » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 85 » Issue 13

Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2777 - 2780 (2000)

Inducing All Steps of a Chemical Reaction with the Scanning Tunneling Microscope Tip: Towards Single Molecule Engineering
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Saw-Wai Hla1,2 *, Ludwig Bartels1 †, Gerhard Meyer1, and Karl-Heinz Rieder1
1Institut für Experimentalphysik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
2Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, D-10117 Berlin, Germany

Featured in Physics News Update Received 25 April 2000

All elementary steps of a chemical reaction have been successfully induced on individual molecules with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in a controlled step-by-step manner utilizing a variety of manipulation techniques. The reaction steps involve the separation of iodine from iodobenzene by using tunneling electrons, bringing together two resultant phenyls mechanically by lateral manipulation and, finally, their chemical association to form a biphenyl molecule mediated by excitation with tunneling electrons. The procedures presented here constitute an important step towards the assembly of individual molecules out of simple building blocks in situ on the atomic scale.


©2000 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v85/p2777
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2777
PACS: 82.65.Pa, 61.16.Ch, 82.30.-b, 85.65.+h

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email address: saw.wai.hla@physik.fu-berlin.de
† Present address: Columbia Radiation Laboratory, Columbia University, MC8903, 540 W120th Street, New York, NY 10027.

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